DEBT CEILING
My concerns at this point are the following:
- debt management
- increasing my income passive or direct while I am still of sound mind and body and able to work
- securing a plan for financial security, home ownership, or managing my living situation if my current situation should change drastically
- redoing my current will and legacy planning
- questioning my medical debt and health insurance
- understanding the differences between a debt consolidation plan and personal loan (costs emotional and financial)
- taxes…. paying them and planning for future tax liability
memo to my virtual financial advisor….
Unless you have some pearls of wisdom or suggestions on the aforementioned items , we can hold off meeting for now and you can work on increasing my tiny nest egg until age 72. If I should come upon some cash and begin to save, I will let you know and we can open a new account. Obviously, I can tolerate way more risk than I thought. I do understand that buying lottery tickets is not the only way to invest. (smile) Thank you.
I know if I pay attention properly to my civic duties, I should be very worried and writing my favorite congresswoman (MINE) RASHEEDA about my recommendations and concerns, but I am stuck and worried as I read the economic reports about my own health and my concerns about how to manage my own debt s=ceiling which apparently I’ve met.
I have hit the limits on all of my credit cards and while companies want to eagerly give me more credit or better yet I am pre-approved for a personal loan to consolidate my debt into one easy payment. It doesn’t feel so good as I read the very fine buried print even with my clean glasses on…. I thought the personal loan was supposed to be at a lower rate than the cards I am paying now.
Except it’s not.
Much of paying the minimum goes to paying the interest on loans that they calculate I think hourly.
I love the folksy Dave Ramsey and his debt free mantra but it has not been doable for me long term when I am not working or able to increase my income or start a business.
He nor I anticipated COVID or my grandchildren and my children’s sense of doom regarding education and dashed dreams, work and promise. We also didn’t account for what it feels like when you can’t get ahead and find it so appealing to blame someone else when problems are global, and connected and not easily or quickly fixed,
What happened to all the black people that used to work on the Ramsey team? I shudder to think about their percipitous fall from grace.
I also am a great fan of Michelle Singletary, my Washington Post guru on the Color of Money; as well as my fave leather-wearing PBS sexy girl Suze Orman who reminds me always that it is not too late to leave a legacy of sanity, security and love for yourself.
She doesn’t have the kids and a grandmother like Michelle but she is so smart and has a strategy for everything and women and money.
I have both these folks on financial spiritual speed dial but I don’t usually take enough time to take a pause and sit down with pen and paper and do the numbers and see a way out. Notwithstanding my Louise Hay affirmation boxed gift card set.
I know there is a way that is just not visible at least to me and it may take time, a very long time to see the benefits and that may not happen in this life time. But it may influence the life time of the little ones , my progeny ahead, the decisions that I make now with my ATM card, my funds, and my life. I surrender to the altar of consumer credit counseling and closing the accounts I can no longer pay.
I love Suze’s tag line of people first, then money, then things. What brings you joy and where you spend your money shows where you seek and sow your treasure. Seeds of philanthropy 101; you can’t take it with you! Besides at the rate I am going, I won’t have anything to take.
I do want a financial plan and I don’t like the notion of living willy nilly and feeling at the mercy of everyone else without looking at what power I do have to make financial decisions even in a global economy that does seem to work for some folks though the number at times appears to be shrinking.
I do know that my ignorance about the economy and the financial markets has not helped me, but I can read and learn more things and use data appropriately in keeping with my heart.
I can look back and see where I went wrong. Or look back and see where I went right and was “saved” / I can easily compare myself to others and what I believe was a financial success story and also see what I thought was a miserable failure was indeed a saving grace. Forces affecting me while not always visible to me personally affected me anyway. As surely as the moon impacts the tide and everything else with water in it whether you acknowledge it or not.
What I thought may have helped someone may have harmed them and that my notions about money like what I know about any spiritual blessing requires growth and spiritual maturity which is not always evident.
Now after the rattle and rant of my brain; I do have a question: what is the difference between a debt consolidation program when you actually pay someone to negotiate a lower debt for you a “fair debt” for you with your hardship under the condition that you do not use credit cards and you close your accounts. Your life devoted to no more “debting” and the Debters Anonymous twelve steps is your support system to just saying no or not yet or waiting until.
How do you pay taxes when you do not have enough to pay taxes and still eat and live and pay rent and you’re grumbling and whining because you feel it is unfair that “Donald” pays less than you and its unfair and you’re stuck there.
I feel I can earn money, start a business, have experience and am a person of value but how do I get paid for that? I can take care of myself, and don’t want to be a burden to anyone while saying I don’t mind someone else being a burden to me. Do you spend money to make money? What is a financial investment, can I spend $10, 000 to get out of debt to make a smaller monthly payment, what feels better and then you die anyway. What is it that gives you joy?
If I want unlimited books and subscriptions to my favorite periodicals is that as bad as a new car if I don’t have the money? What to do if I feel cheated when I have given in good faith or gone to the dentist or the doctor or the preacher and paid my tithe, they have a nice house and still do not feel well.
Back to my URGENT debt question…. And how to pay my taxes to Caesar when I didn’t do the math of withholding everything.
When I retired from my good government job, I didn’t think I would not go back to work and or I thought I would not die soon. But I am still here and breathing and even thriving and can expect that reality for at least two or three more decades. I don’t have a plan for making more money, controlling costs or paying taxes.
I have been living off my credit cards and withdrawals from my retirement savings as if it were income. Neither of these categories qualify as passive income. Apparently my retirement did not go as planned and clearly I didnt pick the right geographical location to weather the long storm.
What if the things I do really well, I can finally do now in my resplendant golden years and just figure out how to get paid for it. Abundance, prosperity, peace and belonging flow freely to me, there is no barrier.
How can I increase my income passively or directly and not have to move in with my kids who both own their own homes or hoping for a friendly stranger that will be nice to me and wipe my ass if I can’t without shaming me. What if I didn’t buy the winning Powerball lottery ticket this week? The truth is, I am still fed!
I feel practically biblical about these things most of the time. Like the lilies of the field and then sometimes not.
Debt ceiling, moments of grace and reckoning… Praying for Janet. She went to school for this stuff and has figured it all out!
NOTES
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/05/04/call-irs-tax-bill-debt/
